Although Walker realizes not all students are intent on a career in dance, she reminds them that they should train as if this were the case.

Walker has received phone calls from parents who say, “My daughter doesn’t want to be a professional ballerina; she just wants to dance.” Walker’s response has been that if an athlete plays football in high school, he may not want to play in the NFL, but in the meantime should condition and work hard as if that were his goal.

Walker encourages her dancers to audition and compete as frequently as possible. Dancers as well as all artists must learn at a young age that they win some and lose some, explains Walker. “Our dancers have auditioned for professional ballet programs and have been turned down, but after working even harder in classes, are accepted the following year,” she says. Students have found that this is the most rewarding part of hard work, and it gives them a taste of the real world.

Since 2002, Sussex Dance Academy dancers have been accepted into various dance programs and received awards in the following: The Kirov Academy, Washington, D.C; The Rock School for Dance Education, Philadelphia; The Virginia School of the Arts; The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Michigan; Alba Dance International, Italy; The American Academy of Ballet, New York; The North Carolina School of the Arts; Shenandoah University (dance scholarship); Manhattan Dance Project; first and second place awards at Tremaine Regional Dance Competitions; and High Gold and Gold Awards at New York City Dance Alliance Competitions.

Most recently, Alexis Cooper, 11, of Ocean View, was accepted into Level 4 at Baltimore Ballet School, where she now trains full time; Miriah Hearn, 17, of Lewes, and Becca Southmayd, 15, of Ocean View, recently returned from six weeks of ballet study at Orlando Ballet School, Florida; and Frances Revel, 14, of Frankford, just left Delaware after successfully auditioning for Nutmeg Ballet, a professional ballet year-round training conservatory in Torrington, Conn.